A new Watershed Initiative has emerged on the Upper Deschutes River

The Upper Deschutes Basin contains large river systems and long healthy tributaries to form 150 miles of headwaters and feeders to pour down the lower 100 miles through a large and scenic canyon.  The goal of the Upper Deschutes Home Rivers Initiative is to protect this dramatic and unique basin and restore strong populations of redband trout, steelhead, bull trout, sockeye and chinook salmon and other native and wild species within the upper Deschutes watershed.  With our local members and neighbors, we hope to sustain those populations through watershed restoration, education, and stewardship with our surrounding communities.  TU believes that people must have a powerful connection to the critical landscapes that support the Northwest’s ecosystems, and will make community engagement an emphasis of this Home Rivers Initiative.

• View Map of the Deschutes Basin with Fish Passage and Access
• Goals and objectives for the Upper Deschutes Initiative
• Deschutes Basin fish of focus and habitat needs
• Current Projects and Priorities in the Upper Basin
• Learn more about our Deschutes Restoration Outreach Project (DROP)

Crooked River at Smith Rock State Park.

TU has a strong track record of engaging its volunteers and other members of the community in hands-on restoration work, advocacy, and youth education. This involvement helps create a lasting sense of stewardship that allows the community to sustain the achievements of the project for future generations. TU believes that conservation programs must be rooted in sound science. For that reason, we identify ecological and social objectives for all of our conservation work. TU assesses watershed conditions and native trout population status through its Conservation Success Index, and uses that information to formulate habitat protection, reconnection, and restoration strategies. We can then strategically work with partners to protect and restore habitat and migration corridors for each population. Conservation projects and supporting the biodiversity for native trout will become our framework and provide for opportunities for our communities to become stewards for land and water along their local stream.

The upper Deschutes River is home to many sensitive aquatic species such as bull trout, listed as threatened under the Endangered Species Act, and the Columbia River Basin redband trout. It is a watershed of regional significance to TU members and individuals around the world. Yet, the upper Deschutes watershed has had 100 years of heavy community use along its shorelines and surrounding forests and canyons. The basin has degraded reaches which have developed from heavy impacts by large agriculture industry, the steady encroachment of suburban development, a patch work of forest management and fire succession, which leads to a setting and ecosystem that require careful management to protect the health of the Deschutes River and its community.

Upper Deschutes River in Central Oregon.